The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1887-12-03

Add nnv cnvo166 pepper 10 the dian aItox
Il Il served. unless 10 cool Il on . little.
DO NOT euppo& that Il - absolutely
necessary % have : lot Of incongruoue
things % make san coche. Your gooo
San cocho maker, II he has but one kind
OF meat. win get along with that, only
then you must expect him PUT ~ more
garlic and peppers 70 conceal tnc paucity
Of bis resources. think the yiiest san
cocho ever ate was made altogether OF
some little uniyalynlar shcllflsh--wifh the
garlic and pepper essentials, OF course
and the best, BY far, was composed OF
I had gone, with couple Of Indian
half-brced natives, up into the coast
range Of mountains, a few miles from
Puerto Cabello, TO look ut what was rep
resented TO me as promising ledge or
supposedly gold-carrying ore. Travel
Ing through the woods was an inexprcssi*
bly wearisome and abominable task.
Machetes had 10 be used constantly TO
clear path through the tangled mass OF
tough vines mating together the thick
underbrush: the insects were very annoy
ing: the heat was slifling. and a sharp
lookout for venomous serpents had to
be kept. Progress under those cir
cumstances was OF course slow, and
darkness fell before we reached
our destination. We did, however, man-
are TO get to hut inhabited by fricndso OF
nv guides--Indien half-breeds like them.
The family consisted Of a man, woman
and a mixed herd Of children and ours:
Their hut was located near great pool
In the bed Of water course that was
doubtless roaring torrent In the rainy
season, but now only laid as . rugged
path of hot, white and gray rocks wind
| ing up through the deep rayines, with
| here and there al stagnant pool fed,
as this one was, by az small spr1pn y 1,
| Our hosts were hospitable ARR
| kind, but their hut~~all open on the ST. 4
| ~ II was--seemouc close and hot The dog
| barkcd almost incessantiy, and thexe
| were myriads OF all manner OF crawling,
| jumping and flying insects that bit with
Unsuitable ferocity. AS may be imagined,
| we arose very early. One OF my guides,
| who had gone down TO the pool TO poke
| his head into II, came running back 70
| tell me there vas q big boa near AZ
| hand a. ! Wanted TO aee II.
| was lucky enough TO kill that Doa
! with couple Of well-directed revolver
| bullets He was a hapdsome specimen,
| though only about nine feet long. Iney
! said he was water boa" one OF
| family infesting the hollows among the
I rocks near the pool, and told me fabulous
stories about the old ones being i've times
as long as the one had ehot-~Wh1ch, or
course, did not believe. l am no boa
expert, and don't know what differences
exist between water boas and any others,
but, regarding them az all members OF
one family, shall never again speak III
Of any boa as long as live.
My fellows took that nne young snake
and having run sharp knife about his
neck, hung him up 10 limb or tree
ead peeled his skin down from him.
Then they took out his inside works
and handed him over TO our hostess, who
proceeded ut once 10 make san coche
OF few feet OF him. Either her sup
ply of garlic was fortunately very linn
tied or she had the good sense not "a
overwhelm the delicate flavor OF that ex-
quisite meat with an excess OF the pun
gent vegetable. There were red pep
pers galore, OF course, but was used 70
that.
Nicer meat than that boa | never ate
II was white, tender, fine grained, like
particularly nice milk-fed veal, and re-
sembled that meat In flavor more thar
any other, only that IL was sweeter ant
with suggestion of nuttiness that 70
minds me OF wild turkey fattened OF
beech-nuts and sweet acorns.
There may be some who viii profess
disgust with the idea of eating a snake
but their prejudices are unwise. The
boa Is a clean feeder, OF clean habits
which certainly cannot be said Of the eel
catfish, sturgeon, duck, hog and various
| othnr craaturea TINT are WILLINGLY eaten ID,